.Shadow Mountain Outdoors

Outdoor video production

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Oh, What to Do?

The one thing we never have to face is something to do. This week started out in our first spring invasion of the clam beach.The tides were well below the neccessary -2 tide level. Actually it was down below the -5 level for several days.That makes for several hundred yards of exposed clam beds. We planned on staying the 6 days but stayed only to dig 4 days. I got tired of shelling clams.We dig for 2 hours and get two 5 gal. buckets nearly full of the razor and red-neck clams.Before you ask, the red-neck clams have nothing to do with being a red-neck.They have long red necks. My hands are both trying to recover from the cuts and sore finger nails neccessary to wrestle with the clams.They don't especially want to be yanked out of their little sandy holes. So they begin to dig as soon as you make your first shovel full of sand.The big red-necks can't dig nearly as fast as those speedy razors.The older I get the more those razors escape. As in most places, the druggies seem to congragate on beaches. They build big fires and disrupt everything with their loud boom-box noises. I can't hear any music in it, only those big loud booms of some sort. I can't yet figure out what is in all of that noise, but it must be something to keep them all in time with what ever is going on?? At 1:30 AM they drove past my camper and hit it with a 15 foot long log that they had picked up down on the beach.I suppose that they couldn't figure out how a log that long might hang out far enough to hit something. I jumped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed my 40 Glock along with a clip or two, lept on my 4 wheeler, and drove down to confront the jerks.Probably not the smartest thing to do. There were about 20 or so idiots standing around the fire. I guess I took them by suprise, or they had been bullying so long that they never expected to see a mad old geezer come screeching into their camp on a 4-wheeler.They probably thought I was crazy and thought that I might start shooting up the place. Well, I probably WAS crazy to do it, but I did manage to chew for a while. They kept saying how sorry they were and I let them know things would be different next time it happened.I then made my escape before they moved into the mad-mode.I'm sure once they figured it out, they were hot about it.I had no more trouble out of them. On a lighter side...yesterday I put up my two tree stands. It was in a nice dense thicket of alders, spruce, and hardwoods. I chained my 50 gal. bait barrel to a stump and poured in some oat-corn-molasses.Bears love anything with molasses in it. They will come for miles to eat it.It never is kool to put a bait barrel in thick brush because it is hard to see if old bear is eating before you approach the tree stand. The worst thing is a big old grizz may be who is eating instead of the black bear that you are hoping to see. There seems to be a good supply of grizz in that area, so I know very well what I'll be having to deal with. No, I don't like it much, but if I am going to bait black bears, the grizz will just have to be shooshed, somehow. Sometimes they are hungry enough to not shoosh very well. Then you stay up in the tree stand until they leave.I have heard about hunters having to spend the night up in a tree waiting for them to leave. Then there is always the old grizz who decides to have a nap after eating the molasses.( It seems like I spent the night in a tree on May 2nd, 1986, with a few injuries from shooting a grizz with an arrow. Now I'm getting back into one of those same positions?? Not too clever, huh?)No, I'm not in to going over and slapping his head to wake him up.I probably will find it in my heart to say some nasty things to him in a very loud manner. I don't have a plan after that. By the way, night before last a grizz came strolling through our yard looking for grub. I expect it was one of the garbage bears that live here. They are the lazy ones that would rather rip garbage than hunt for some real food.We always keep our garbage out of reach so as not to attracked them. My neighbors Carillian Bear dog ran the bruin off. It will be back sooner or later. I much rather have the bear than some druggie hanging around. Bears, at least have some sense.I'll be checking on my bait station in a few days. I'll keep you all posted.

About Me

"Some of us will never be satisfied unless we are in the thick of it. I guess I’m a bit different than most folks. My priorities have been born in the mountains, my Soul belongs to my God, my Heart belongs to my Family, and my Spirit belongs to the Wind and the Wilderness."~ Bubba